I know, ladies, all that is well and good but what about McDreamy??? You'll have to wait for it. (Oh the joys of being a writer and having the power to make people wait for things.) What's that? They can skip to the end rather than read the entire blog? Oh pullease, no one would EVER do that to one of MY blogs! Right???
If you have never attended a Walk/Run to Break the Silence, first of all, shame on you! However, if you have never heard of them I will give you a pass - and tell you that next year's CT walk is scheduled for Saturday September 22nd so now you have no excuse! The walks are to raise funds for the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (NOCC) whose mission is to raise awareness and promote education about ovarian cancer. Their goal is not to raise money for research as there are other organizations that do a good job with that. Rather, educating women and men across the country about the disease is what they do and they do it very well. You see, since there is no definitive screening test for ovarian cancer it is very important to know the symptoms because, if caught early, the five year survival rate is over 90%. However, if it is only diagnosed in later stages the prognosis is poor. Of the roughly 20,000 women who are diagnosed each year with ovarian cancer about 15,000 will die. This is why education about the disease is so vitally important. I urge you to take a moment and go to www.ovarian.org and learn more about this. Many of you know why my wife and I are involved with this great organization as she is an 8 year survivor of the disease, so this is personal to us. Go look at the website RIGHT NOW! I'll wait..........but don't forget to come back!
Glad to have you back. Briefly back to the walks then we'll get to McDreamy. The walks are a beautiful testimonial to the women and their families who have gone through the battle with ovarian cancer, are presently going through the battle, or who have lost their battle with the disease. All I can tell you is to try to attend a walk near you as they are located throughout the United States, mostly in September. The stories you will hear, the education you will receive, and the laughter and tears are all part of a wonderful day of celebration, remembrance and love that you have to experience for yourself.
OK, ladies, you have been patient. My wife now works for the NOCC and one of her functions as the Faces of Hope Program Coordinator for newly diagnosed women is to visit hospitals and sometimes man a booth (or would that be WOman a booth?) at different locations throughout the U.S. One such event occurred the weekend of October 8th in Maine which is known as the Dempsey Challenge. This is an annual event in Lewiston Maine which raises money for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing. Dempsey started the center in honor of his mother who is a survivor of ovarian cancer, and their services are free of charge so events such as this are very important. My wife and two of her colleagues attended the event for the NOCC. And if you haven't figured it out yet (yeah, right) Patrick Dempsey plays Dr. Derek Shepherd, aka Dr. McDreamy, on the TV show Grey's Anatomy. Did they get to meet him? You tell me...
You know, now that this guy had his picture taken with Madonna, Ronni and Donna I'll bet he becomes famous...how can he miss? Let's see, if I photoshop him out and put my picture in maybe I'll have a shot at becoming famous! Nah, who needs it. Besides, does McDreamy write a blog that is read in Latvia?
Definate thumbs up Tom!!
ReplyDelete